How important is Phan Van Duc in coach Park Hang-seo's 3-4-3 formation?

For any coach in the world, prioritizing defense is the deciding factor in the success of a match or a tournament. Since Coach Park Hang-seo has not yet set foot in Vietnam, the Vietnam National Team under different coaches has applied a 4-defender formation and it has revealed inherent weaknesses. From 4-4-2 to 4-1-4-1, they have all easily lost to Southeast Asian teams.

Realizing the problems of the 4-defender formation, Coach Park Hang-seo has worked hard to build the 3-defender formation as it was at that time. To operate this formation, Coach Park Hang-seo has the best players to optimize the strength of this tactical formation. Even the best player like Van Quyet has no place in the national team.

Coach Park Hang-seo is struggling to find a replacement for Phan Van Duc. Photo: TK

Because the 3-4-3 formation is not as easy to operate as other formations, every position must be stable and replacing any player in this formation is taboo, except in cases of force majeure.

Just one position operating incorrectly, the whole system will go into disorder and the biggest difference of this diagram comes from the two wings, where defenders Van Hau - Trong Hoang often go up to join the attack. Conversely, the midfielders above also often drop back to support the defense.

From the AFF Cup to the 2019 Asian Cup, the Vietnam national team not only made Southeast Asian teams helpless but also made many strong Asian teams struggle. Because once they lost the ball, the two wingers above retreated and when they won the ball, they could immediately create a quick counterattack.

On the other hand, this position is also very dangerous because of the sudden attacks from behind the opponent's defenders to break the offside trap to score goals like a striker. Phan Van Duc is the player who best meets this requirement of Coach Park Hang-seo. And of course, this player has the ability to support the defense much better than the rest of his teammates, especially when facing strong teams.

Vietnam's starting lineup for the match against Thailand on November 19. Photo: VFF

In the match against Thailand at Thammasat Stadium, Coach Park Hang-seo began to look for new options to replace Phan Van Duc's absence. First, when Van Hau had not entered the field, Hong Duy played as left-back. Playing in the winger position, supporting striker Tien Linh were Quang Hai and Van Toan. Coach Park chose to pull Quang Hai back to play in Van Duc's position and Van Toan played on the opposite wing.

In fact, the gaps in the Vietnamese national team's defense system when facing a strong opponent like Thailand were exposed in that match. Midfielder Quang Hai had to work harder, often retreating to defend more, and Van Toan was not good at fighting and defending. Fortunately, in that match, Tuan Anh and Hung Dung had an excellent match, helping the Vietnamese national team's midfield repeatedly break up the opponent's attacks and ball deployment.

This time when returning to My Dinh, Coach Park Hang-seo had called up Trong Hung and Viet Phong before but was unsuccessful. Coach Park Hang-seo's 3-4-3 formation was still quite shaky, especially when Coach Akira Nishino was no longer confused. As a last resort, Coach Park continued to use Van Toan as a right winger and Quang Hai once again had to play on the left wing. In that position, Quang Hai clearly had to prioritize defense against a very strong Thai midfield.

Coach Park Hang-seo ponders before the match against Thailand. Photo: Trung Kien

Striker Van Toan is a fast player, but against a disciplined defense like Thailand, this player cannot show his strengths. As thin as Phan Van Duc, Van Toan does not have the cunning and ability to coordinate with teammates as well as the SLNA player. With Van Toan's good form in V.League, people expect more from the HAGL player.

As for Phan Van Duc, when he has the ball in the 16m50 area, this player will choose to coordinate with his teammates or boldly dribble the ball inside, when there is an opportunity, he will control the ball for a moment and shoot with any foot. In fact, Phan Van Duc has a solid supporting leg and good ankle strength, more or less when he is there, the opponent's defense will have more trouble because of unexpected penetrations from the left wing.

At My Dinh Stadium, since Hung Dung lost his stamina and was replaced by Cong Phuong, Quang Hai moved inside to play central midfield with Tuan Anh, things got worse. The Vietnamese midfield was at a disadvantage against Thailand and there was no chance for the players above like Cong Phuong, Tien Linh, Hong Duy to counterattack. Vietnam's ball possession rate throughout the match was only nearly 37%.

Striker Van Toan is somewhat disappointing. Photo: Xuan Thuy

Taking out Hung Dung and Van Toan to replace them with Cong Phuong and Hong Duy was nothing more than a gamble by Coach Park Hang-seo. Cong Phuong played in the left wing position left by Quang Hai and Hong Duy played in Van Toan’s position. Both Hong Duy and Cong Phuong were only dangerous when they had the ball and were not good at defending.

Once Quang Hai was pulled back to play as a central midfielder, Coach Park expected the attacking power of the Vietnamese national team to depend on Trong Hoang's ability to advance. However, when the midfield was in control, Thailand's left-back Theerathon often advanced, causing Trong Hoang to have a lot of trouble, no longer having the opportunity to cross inside for Tien Linh when playing right above him was Hong Duy, a left-footed player.

We expect more from Quang Hai when Van Duc is absent, but unfortunately Quang Hai is not allowed to play freely or often move up, close to the opponent's penalty area and launch shots from a distance or from his strong second line. And this is part of the reason why the Vietnam team is increasingly "dry" of goals.

The entire match, Vietnam only had 5 shots and none of them went in the direction of the Thai goal. Meanwhile, Thailand had 13 shots, 7 of which were on target. Goalkeeper Dang Van Lam also had to make 7 saves in this match, including a penalty save from Therathon.

When the Vietnamese team had the ball, Coach Park seemed to ask his players to move more into the center. Photo: VFF

In terms of passing statistics, Thailand had 468 passes, compared to Vietnam's 225 passes. This shows that the opponent's individual technique and ability to play short, short balls are better than ours. Although Coach Park has trained his players very carefully on team coordination.

In the recent match at My Dinh Stadium, both teams played calmly, did not commit fouls near the 16m50 box and there were not many opportunities for players capable of free kicks, especially Quang Hai. From a controversial corner kick, the ball was headed into the net by Tien Dung but unfortunately Van Hau was penalized by the referee for fouling goalkeeper Kawin.

Both Vietnam and Thailand had chances to finish off their opponents, but the excellence of Van Hau and Van Lam and luck for Thailand meant the match ended goalless. However, Coach Park is not to blame because he has his own difficulties.

After the match, Coach Park Hang-seo admitted that no match or calculation is perfect and that lessons must be learned after each match. The Thai team is a worthy opponent for the Vietnamese team, but at least the Vietnamese team's defense system still deserves praise.

Why is Southeast Asia helpless against coach Park Hang-seo's 3-4-3 formation?

(Baonghean.vn) – Based on the advantages and disadvantages of the 3-4-3 formation, we can easily see why Coach Park Hang-seo is loyal to his personnel choices. And this style of play is making Southeast Asia, even Asia, unable to find a solution.